Einar Oswald Nathurst

Einar Oswald Nathurst. (1) Tennessee Coal and Railroad Company (TCR) was reorganized in 1882 as Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TCIR) after John H. Inman and Associates of New York acquired a 2/3rd interest. Einar Oswald Nathurst was made Superintendent. He was a native of Sweden who had come in 1865 to Summers Place (now Summerfield). He had contracted with TCR to supply most of the crossties used in restoring the railroad tracks from Cowan to Tracy City following the Civil War., In the latter part of the 19th century, Nathurst was secretary and manager of Mountain Home Building and Loan Association that provided funds for miners to build attractive frame homes, many of which are extant today., In July of 1892 TCIR had 130 newly built (1883) coke ovens in operation at Lone Rock. There were 320 convicts from the Tennessee State Prison leased under Tennessee's Zebra Law. There were also free miners in the employ of the company. The free miners had to compete with the convicts for jobs. They demanded that Nathurst provide them with more work. Nathurst tried to placate the free miners with assurances of more work within 30 days. The free miners were not satisfied and on August 13, 1892 marched on the stockade at Lone Rock and burned it to the ground. The convicts were loaded into boxcars and the engineer ordered to take them to Cowan and on to Nashville. Between Monteagle and Sewanee the prisoners uncoupled one of the boxcars and 13 of them attempted escape, one was killed, and two were wounded. The rest were taken to the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. Some were returned to Tracy City. On April 19, 1893 an estimated forty to one hundred armed men attacked the stockade. One of the attackers was killed and another wounded. A deputy warden was also wounded. (2) In August 1894 the prisoners mutinied. A convict and deputy warden died. In December 1895 the free miners struck because of the continuing convict lease system. On January 1, 1896 the lease contracts for convicts from the state prison expired and the convict lease system repealed in 1897., Nathurst who seems to have been an ameliorating influence resigned as Superintendent July 1, 1903 and died later that year., In 1879 Nathurst acquired the area known as Thompson's Coal Bank and later known as East Ramsey mines from TCR. It was a 100 acre tract that he named Modoc Vineyard. The name Modoc comes from a Native American group that had its ancestral roots along the California Oregon border. Nathurst developed a vineyard on about one acre of this tract. The remainder he held for subdivision and development. The Republican Banner acknowledged receipt of Nathurst's grapes stating the bunches were large and grapes were juicy and delicious. We are under obligation to E.O. Nathurst ... for samples of his pure wines, made from grapes raised in his vineyard. (3), (1) Nicholson, James L., Grundy County, pp 69-72, Memphis State University Press (1982) , (2) New York Times, April 21, 1893 , (3) Partin, Jackie Layne, Modoc Vineyard, The Pathfinder pp 23-33, Vol 27 Number 2 June 2022, Grundy County Historical Society